Electric drier



May 1.5, 1945.

Original Filed Jan. 14, 1939 E s. HEwIT-r ELECTRIC DRIER 3 Sheets-Sheet2 el* (ib/WIW- Q6 WWZ? y Patented May y15, 1945 ELECTRIC DRIER Elmer S.Hewitt, Wilmette, Ill.

Original application January 14, 1939,`Serial No. 250,863. Divided andthis application August 11. 1943, Serial No. 498,226

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a small, compact, inexpensive and highlyefficient apparatus adapted to discharge, in a desired direction, astream of heated air for drying or heating purposes. An apparatus ofthis kind may be used with advantage in many places-in commercialkestablishments, in homes, etc. It will serve equally well as a heatingmedium for a small room, or for drying of hair, clothes, etc.

The present apparatus, which is designed for wall mounting, combineswith great advantage a base with which is associated a cradle whereon iscarried a motor-blower unit. The mounting of the 'base frame upon thesupporting wall in relation to the mounting of the cradle upon the base,is such as to reduce vibration to a minimum, this being accomplishedthrough the novel means which will be hereinafter explained. In additionI secure over the motor and blower a removable cover/ which is adaptedto be locked in place by a device which is simple. inexpensive andeiectivc for the purpose. The discharge of heated air is through anozzle having a swiveled mounting engaging with both the cover and ahousing for the blower, but insulated therefrom in such a manner as todampen out vibrations which are transmitted thereto. tures ofconstruction the present apparatus embodies numerous points -ofadvantage and utility all as will hereinafter be explained at length. Afirst disclosure 'of this invention was made in my application filedJanuary 14, 1939, Serial No.

250,863 (of which this case is a division), now Patent No. 2,294,904,dated September 8, 1942.

A suggestive embodiment of my invention is set l forth in theaccompanying drawingswhereinthe connecting bars which is shown inperspec-y tive; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view in. assembly position of the parts formingthe Wedge mechanism by which the cover is secured to the base.

The present machine comprises a base A in the form of a frame which isgenerally rectangular In shape with walls 9 terminating in a commonplane for fitting against a fixed support B such as a vertical partitionor post. The base frame includes also a web I0 extending inwardly fromeach of its walls, and provided with holes to'receive therethroughfastening elements such as bolts II each of which 4may be Y,threadedinto a wall anchor I2 or other securing di/ice. Beyond the web the basewalls are extended at, I4 to deflnea shallow enclosure.

The base frame is adapted to, support upon its web a cradle C whereon ismounted an electric In respect of these several fea opening 23 intheboss.

`the head motor D whose shaft carries a direct connected blower E. Asshown, this cradle is in'the general form of a triangular frame having(its apex at one end connected to the base by a\bo1t I5, two other boltsI6 and I'I furnishing connections at points about midway of the lengthof the base on opposite sides thereof. The details of the cradlemounting will be explained at at later point. Carried by the cradle isone section of a two-part housing F' which surrounds the blower, therebeing large draft openings at opposite ends of the housing each ttedwith a frustro-conical guide I8 by which to direct incoming air into theblower as well as to eliminate much of the noise incident to itsoperation..

The mounting of the cradle within the base is such as to provide anelective barrier against the transmission of vibration. F01- thispurpose there is tted over each connecting bolt adjacent its head I9 acup washer 20 adapted to receive the body of a resilient grommet 2Iwhich bears against the under side of a boss 22 formed on the web ofthe'base, the upper grommet end being reduced in'diameter for entrywithin an this boss is asecond grommet 25 having its opposite ends ofreduced diameter, one entering within the boss opening 23 and the otherwithin an opening 26 in a boss 21 which is provided on the cradle, thebody of this grommet being fitted between the ends of the bosses 22 and21 to maintain them in spaced relation. A third grommet 28 which restsupon the boss 21 is formed with a reduced end adapted to enter the upperend of the opening 26. this last grommet being identical with the onerst described. The body of this grommet is confined in part within aninverted cup washer 29 against which a nut 3G. manually operable bywings 3| if desired. is adapted to abut. The connecting bolt traversesthis entire assembly of grommets and washers so that the nut, whentightened, will cooperate with I9 in exertng a clamping pressure. Whileeach of the grommets is desirably of resilient material, it is preferredthat the one in the center be somewhat harder lthan the two On theopposite side of others. Such an assembly of grommets when used in themounting for the cradle will provide an excellent barrier against thevtransmission of also included in the circuit, if desired. .Since thedetails of the electrical connections form no part of this invention,further explanation thereof is deemed unnecessary. Sumce `to say, bymanipulation of the handle the circuit may be closed or broken so thatthe motor will operate or stop. The speed of the motor operation iscontrolled by the position of the .rheostat handle in the usual way. Themotor is shown as bolted at it and f-l to the cradle so as to beiiiredly secured thereto. When operated, the blower which may comprise aplurality or" parallei vanes arranged peripherally with its airis willdraw in air :from its opposite ends for discharge ironi the housingthrough a nozzle in a manner which will presently be explained.

.l provide tor the' operating mechanism which is carried by cradle acover G1 which coinprises end and side walls titi and El, respectively.To secure the' cover in place in a Vmanner which will eliminate thetransmission of any vibration, l utilize at each end oi the base aconnecting bar oi which one end portion is shown in perspective in Fig.5. Each bar is of general T-iorm with a horizontal .wall 52 formed:midway of its length with an :inwardly extending hollow boss il@ tromopposite sides or which extends a web l proceeding inwardly in avertical plane. Each f end ci. the bar is laterally turned to extendbeyond the web to provide a channel defined in part by a tongue By thisconstruction I provide at each end ci" the bar a hook. Upon each ci theopposite sides of the web 5d is arranged a flatv strip 5l oi" rubber orother resilient material and when the bar is set in place the lowerstrip will rest upon the upper edge of the base wall itl and the vupperstrip will underlie the lower edge of the cover wall 50 (see Fig. 4).Except at the mid-point of each bar where the 1 hollow boss 53 isformed, these strips are extended continuously irom end to end thereof.

To secure the cover flxedly in place, I have provided a wedge lock thecomponents of which are best shown in Fig. 6. This comprises an upperfitting :c secured to the inside of the cover wall 50 in line with asecond tting y therebelow secured to the inside of the base wall I 4,there being a Cil aardse@ tended in substantially parallel relation withfacing inclined edges 68 corresponding to the slant of the two shelvesB2. 'I'he spacing of the wings may be such that they lie closely to theoutside of the wings on the complementary f1ttings a: andy. The width ofthe slanting shelves is such that they will receive engagement from theslanting edges of the upper and lower wings on the iitting e, theremaining wings acting mainly as guides to maintain this relationship.

Through the plate 65 of the tting z is a hole lll for receiving a bolt'il which is adapted to traverse the hollow boss 53 of the connectingbar H, the head 'l2 of this bolt being slotted, by pref erence, formanipulation from the exterior of the machine. When theconnecting bar isfitted in place between the base and cover, this bolt will serve toadvance the fitting e against the fittings a: and il thereby drawing thecover tightly toward the base where it ls securely held. Between theends of the base and cover` their respective side walls are largely cutaway so as to provide an lelongated opening into each of which may befitted a foraminous plate 'i5 (formed with holes, slots, louvres, etc.)backed by a` screen it, the edges of the plate and screen being restedagainst seats 'il where they are held as by the heads 'i8 ofscrews whichare screw-threaded into the base and cover walls.

The .hooked ends of the bar, as shown, are adapted to engage certainvertical abutments 80 which are formed adjacent these seats. In this waythe cover is effectively centered and held against lateral displacementwith respect to the base with double resilient strips extendingsubstantially continuously between every portion of their contactingsurfaces. The cover walls are flush with those of the base, therebygiving substantially the effect of a one-piece casing for the entirestructure.

it a point in the outer wall of the cover` which is opposite the blowerl have provided an opening surrounded by an inset flange 8i againstwhich is seated a gasket t2 of sponge rubber or other appropriateresilient material which engages with the neel.: portion 83 of adischarge nozzle I having a swiveled mounting on the cover. As shown,this nozzle is in the general form of an elbow so as to present its opendischarge end laterally. The nozzle at its end adjacent the neck carriesa metallic washer 84 secured as with screws 85 the heads of which arecountersunk (see ing. 1). A spacer washer as rests upon the washer 84 soas to confine the gasket 82 in place.

third complementary iitting z adapted to cooperate with each ofstheothers. The tting a: is in the form of a plate from which extends `apair of wings 8| in substantial parallelism with a shelf B2 slantinglyarranged therebelow and supe ported outwardly from `the plate as bymeans of lower wings 83.1 'I'he lower tting 'y may be identical withthat just described, its parts bearing corresponding referencecharacters, and its position being inverted with respect to the uppertting x. The fitting z comprises a plate having two pairs of wings and81 occupying v upper and lower positions, respectively, all ex- Theblower housing comprises fixed and removable sections a and b,respectively, interconnected as by bolts 81, the latter section beingprovided with a discharge opening over which isA tted a. screen 88 heldin place, if desired, by a flanged washer 89 which is iltted over thehousing mouth adjacent its discharge opening. The

washer 84 carried by the nozzle is adapted to rest` upon the flangedwasher 89. By this assembly of parts I provide for the nozzle a swiveledmount-i ing which will eliminate rattles and maintain by friction thenozzle in position.

By reference to Figs. 2 and 3 it will be noted that the axis of themotor and blower is slightly off-centerl with respect to that of thehousing. thereby providing'a space within the housing to the outside oi'the blower for the accommoda tion of certain heating elements be mountedlupon a. base 9| of mica or other suit-5f able material. These elementsare interconnected;

any adjusted ,rotative 90 which may electrically with the motor circuitso as to be energized when the motor is in operation, the heat deliveredtherefrom being drawn into the stream of air which is discharged fromthe blower so that there will issue from the nozzle a constant blast ofair at relatively high temperature.

The apparatus of my invention is designed to operate efliciently atrelatively high speeds, the motor R. P. M. varying from perhaps 1,800 to4,000. Because o'f the environment in which the apparatus is to be used,it is essential that noise nection it Iwill be noted that the base isconnected to its supporting wall at three points forming a triangle,and, that the cradle is mounted on the base at three opposite points. Itwill be noted also that there is complete separation of the cradle fromthe base through the use of resilient gaskets so that metal-to-metalcontact ls wholly Lvoided It is found that with an assembly of threegrommets, one relatively hard and the others relatively soft, asubstantially immovable mountingis obtained without-the transmission si'vibrations therethrough. Also the wedge mechanism by which the cover isiirmly secured to the base has specialI advantage because oi.' theutilization of three complementary elements, two of them alike and theother reversible, all being formable by. a stamping operation fromsheet'I ^metal. The lock thus allorded is one which is wholly concealed,which is operable from the exterior oi' the cover, and which secures thecover and base tightly upon each other with all possibility of lateralmovement avoided. By locking the two wedge mechanisms at opposite endsof the cover it is possible pto provide along each side large,continuously extending openings for ventilation to the interioranimportant point in order that the blowervmay have an adequate supply oiair for heating and discharge from the nozzle without an excess oftemperature interiorly or the casing.

I claim:

1'. In apparatus as described, the combination of a base, a cradlehaving 'a three-point connection with the base, a motor mounted on thecradle substantially within the contines of the trianglel defined by thethree-point connection, the motor axis being disposed substantiallytransversely of one of the triangle sides beyond which the motor shaftis extended, a blower mounted on the shaft 'extension substantially tothe outside oi' the triangle, a blower housing carried by the cradle andi provided in one of its walls with a discharge opening, a cover riorthe cradle and blower housing having a mounting on the base, a. nozzlemounted on the cover opposite the discharge opening in the blowerhousing, means connecting the blower housing and nozzle, and resilientelements inter# posed in the three connections between the cradle andbase and in the connection between the housing and nozzle.-

2. In apparatus as described, the combination of a base, acradle havinga multipoint connection with the base, a motor mounted on the cradlesubstantially within the coniines of the figure delined by themulti-point connection. the motor axis being disposed` substantiallytransversely of one of the figure sides beyond which the motor shaft isextended, a blower mounted on the ,shaft extension substantially to theoutside of the figure, a blower housing carried by the cradle andprovided in one oi' its walls with a discharge opening, a cover for thecradle and blower housing having a mounting on the base, a nozzlemounted on the cover opposite the discharge opening in the blowerhousing, means connecting the blower housing and nozzle, and resilientelements interposed in the several connections between the cradle andbase and in the connection between the housing and nozzle.

3. In apparatus as described, the combination of a base, a cradle havinga multipoint connection with the base, a motor mounted on the cradlesubstantially within the connues of the s'llre deiined by themulti-point connection, the motor axis being disposed substantiallytransversely of one of the ilgure sides beyond which the motor shaft isextended, a blower mounted on the shaft extension substantially to theoutside of the iigure, a blower housing carried by the cradle, andprovided in one of its walls with a discharge opening, a cover forthecradle and blower housing having a, mounting on the base, a nozzlemounted on the cover opposite the discharge opening in the blowerhousing, means connecting the blower housing and nozzle, the distancebetween the said ligure side and the point of connection between theblower housing and nozzle being less than that on the opposite side ofsaid side to the remote end of said iigure, and resilient elementsinterposed in the several connections between the cradle and base and inthe connection between the housing and nozzle.

4. In apparatus as described, the combination of a'base, a cradle and acover both mounted on the base,- a nozzle mounted on the cover oppositean opening through a wall thereof, a housing within the cover mounted onthe cradle and having a releasable connection with the cover oppositethe nozzle thereon, a motor-blower unit mounted on thecradle with theblower disposed within the housing, and means releasably securing thecover to the base whereby the cover, to gether with the nozzle thereon,may be removed without disturbing the motor-blower unit remaining withinthe housing and on the cradle.

ELMER S. HEWI'I'I.

